The traditional saying blesses the goodness of everything that comes “like May rain,” but it does not clarify what happens when the water arrives in the form of snow. And that is what has happened in the Vall d’Aran, which this advanced spring Friday has woken up under a white blanket.
For weeks, Germany has closely followed the story of a humpback whale trapped in shallow waters of the Baltic Sea. This Saturday, that story reached its most awaited moment: the animal, nicknamed “Timmy” or “Hope,” was finally released into the North Sea in a complex operation that combined technique, private funding, and remarkable public anticipation.
The most emblematic bird of New Zealand, the kiwi, has returned to inhabit the hills of Wellington after more than a century of absence thanks to an ambitious citizen initiative. The so-called Capital Kiwi Project, driven by neighbors, scientists, and indigenous communities, has managed to reintroduce 250 specimens in the surroundings of the capital, in an unprecedented effort to recover local biodiversity.
The first signs of spring have also arrived at the Oregon Zoo, where two young black bears, Timber and Thorn, have been seen enjoying water games, friendly wrestling, and long moments in the sun after months of winter inactivity. The animals, who were rescued as orphaned cubs in Alaska, are now starring in a scene of vitality in their habitat, where they were recently observed splashing in a tub of more than 1,100 liters of water, marking their first bath of the season.